1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a spring biased clip. More specifically, the clip according to the present invention comprises a pair of clamping elements having interfitting components defining a hinge in combination with a spring, preferably a cantilever spring. The clip according to the present invention can take the form of a bag clip or paper clip.
2. Background of the Invention
There presently exists many varieties of bag and paper clips commercially available and in use today. However, these clips can be expensive and complex to manufacture. Specifically, there exists a need for an improved bag clip.
With respect to paper clips, by far the most highly successful clip has been the conventional bent wire paper clip. This clip has dominated the field for many years. However, this clip is not very useful for securing thick documents nor would serve as an effective bag clip. Specifically, this clip can only accommodate documents having up to approximately twenty (20) sheets due to the limitation on the amount of bending the inner wire loop can sustain at its base prior to permanent plastic deformation of the wire section located at the base.
In order to accommodate thicker documents, the conventional wire paper clip must be somewhat reformed by the fingers of the user, resulting in a clip with inadequate biasing force. The deficiency of the use of the modified conventional paper clip is further exasperated, since thicker documents require a clip with greater biasing force due to the tendency of inner sheets to slip due to an insufficient average biasing force between sheets.
Variations of the wire paper clip have from time to time been introduced, however, never gaining wide acceptance in the marketplace. Recently, a new paper clip has been introduced that is essentially a thin plate of spring steel bent into a U-shaped cross section that has gained some market share in Japan and is now on sale in the United States. In operation, the plate portions of this clip are separated apart and then the clip is slid over the document to be secured.
Another conventional clip available is designed for handling thick documents. This clip is similar to the above-described clip except edge portions of the plates forming the clip are provided with bent wire actuators. The bent wire actuators can be pivoted from one position, during use of the clip, to a clip removal position where the bent wire portions use the body of the clip itself as fulcrums for separating the plate edges by pressing the free ends of the bent wire actuators together for removing the clip. This clip is constructed of all metal, and requires a number of separate components and bending manufacturing steps of the spring steel plate and the bent wire actuators increasing the costs of manufacturing.
However, this clip is not very useful with relatively thin documents. For example, the all metal construction of this clip results in a heavy clip, which tends to bend the edge downwardly at the portion of the document to which it is applied making handling of the document during reading sometimes difficult. Further, the bulky construction of this clip tends to interfere with the fingers of the user reading the document and creates a problem when stacking or shipping a document. More specifically, this type of clip has a greater dimensional thickness than the document due to its design preventing plural documents to be stacked flatly one on top of each other, or protrudes through the side of an envelope in which it is being shipped.